IBM announced today announced a new services practice focused on social networking in the enterprise, plus a partnership with social business consulting firm DachisGroup. The announcement follows the launch of DachisGroup’s social media monitoring softare-as-a-service.

IBM will offer training, certification and strategic consulting workshops via online courses. One of the first will be a quick start workshop offered with DachisGroup. According to IBM’s announcement, “The workshop combines IBM services for the implementation of Social Business solutions for enterprises with additional services from The Dachis Group and focuses on the use of social business technology while fostering cultural skills and engagement.”

Social looks like a big opportunity for the services business. IBM cites a Forrester report predicting the enterprise social software market will grow to $6.4 billion by 2016 from $600 million last year. IBM also cites a AIIM survey finding that over 50% of enterprise respondents think social business is imperative to their goals. IBM also sells its own enterprise social networking solution IBM Lotus Connections.

Organizations will need supporting selecting and deploying enterprise social software, but the biggest opportunity will probably be in consulting organizations on best to change their culture to fit the social Web. Large scale cultural shifts like this are difficult, if not impossible. The smartest vendor strategy I’ve seen has come out of companies like Qontext and TIBCO, which are focusing on providing integration with existing applications and processes. Integration, rather than yet another piece of shelfware, is the way forward. That gives traditional service providers some leverage, and the ability to create an agenda with real deliverables and measurable outcomes, rather than “cultural shift consulting.”